Smyrna times., 1887-04-27


find grace to help in time of need"
Speaking of the
FALSE NOTIONS OF DEITY"
people have he said:
People are too materialistic in their
conception of God. Much of the non
ular thought and much of the pulpit
teaching of the hour has Il tendency in
this direction. There is danger of
dwelling upon the personality of God
IN such a way as to lose sight of the
fact that God is a spirit" Without
intending or realizing it, IA great nanv
christians give to the Deity a human
instead of divine personality. If
questioned closely they will be found
to have at the head of their religion
only creation of their own imagina-
tlons, in the place Of spiritual Dritv.
When they shut their eyes and think
of God, he takes the form Of acolossal
man on some distant and heaved IN
spot of the Universe, seated upon a
throne of massive gold, from which he
issues his laws, and at the foot ofwhich
every man will one day bow.
Many good man who is ready
enough to declare with glib tongue
that " we cannot by searching find our
God" and that =" no man can look upOn
his face and live" has nevertheless
such a low conception Of Deity that
he actually sees him from head to foot
when he prays-can behold the express
slons Of his cOuntenauce and hear the
tones of his voice.
Is not this very like the error of saw
age and degraded tribes of men who
having carved an image in size
1t may he--of wood or stone. imme-
dlately clothed it with imaginary attri-
butes and worship at its feet. Is it anv
better to worship an image created bv
the lmdginations than to worship an
idol made by hands? When vou have
SO personalized Deity as to have given
MN human form are you not like
~ 10 give to this form the mental and
moral characteristics of human being.
and so find yourself worshipping not
Deity, but distorted and exaggerated
hkeneess ofa man? Surely this is what
God himself reproves when he saws
" thou thOughtest was altogether such
an one as thyself"
= 4 x x
You cannot picture or describe Deity.
Pen, brush aud voice are all alike help
less IN the presence of such an under
taking. God cannot be put into human
speech. All that man has created can
be edescribed-his achievements in wood
and stone and with the metals can all
be told. Nature in all her forms and
moods, can be put plainly before YOU
by the living voice of the orator, by the
pen OF the writer, by the brush of the
painter, and even by the chisel of the
sculptor. But do we not know that
man with all the wealth of his language
and with ail the splendor of his genius
is utterly unable to describe Deity.
K y
Neither mans eyes nor his imagipa-
ton can help him in his effort to ap-
prehend God
Our mistaken notions of him are
largely the fruit of the Imagination.
All the images brought before the mind
bV the imagination are of necessity
drawn from what our senses have exper-
fenced o. OF the world outside of and
around us, and therefore to accept
them as descriptive of anything in the
realm of spirit is to fail into the grossest
materialism.
HOW WE OUGHT TO CONCEIVE OF GOD.
We must know God spiritually. And
to know him spiritually we must think
of him as absolute power, unerring JUS
tice, cOnsummate goodness and perfect
love. Possessing qualities we have
seen limited at and in part manifested
IN man but possessing them in their
completeness and without shade of i'm
perfection.
would have you conceive of God as
did Jesus. ITO him" says IL writer
God was a transcendently lofty spirit,
to be wOrshiped in spirit and in truth"
Jesus knew God through his knowledge
of his own soul. He was power, but
beneticient power. He was physical
law, but he was moral law also. He
was the energy which moved and
shaped the material Universe, and he
was also the spiritual force which mOv-
ed upon souls. He was the creator of
innumerable worlds; and he was the
father of human souls, into every one
OF which he has put something of him
self
X = X
My brethren! he whose mind can
rise to anything like an adequate con-
ception of Deity, will bow his head with
hushed and speechless awe. Like the
Israelite of old he will scarcely dare
utter his name, or he will give him that
sublimest of all scripture names"
Am" The God who isis everywhere
lis forever Who that thinks of him
rightly will have the andacity TO pnt
upon him the limitations of a human
personality
Can we ever find this God? Do YOU
wish to find Him? Then "Seek and
you Shall Find" But seek him not
with hurrying feet and outstretched
hands; expect not to Overtake him
with the swift movement ofthe fast fy-
ing imagination, or to grasp and hold
hold him within the compass of the in
tellect. Lift your souls to Him
Draw night to God and He will draw
nigh to you" God is a spirit and
only through spirit can man
come to know Him whom to know is
everlasting life." Apprehend Him
thus and you will see that God is
everywhere. The whole earth will be
full of His glory. You will see that
He is in all material forms-the
supreme power by whom they are
formed. You will see Him in all
nature and life The Universe will
speak to you of Him as the fountain of
supply from which it springs, and by
whom it lives, moves ard has its be-
ing"
But nowhere will God more certain
ly be found than in gOar OWn souls.
When your ambitions are high and
holy; when your aspirations are lifted
heavenward toward the things that are
fine and white and divine; when you
realize that Christ is in you, the hope
Of glory" you begin to understand the
meaning of Paul when he called the
human body 1.-THE Temple of the Holy
Ghost.n \
The mystery ofthe incarnation is less
OF mystery to us when we have seen
and recognized the Divinity within our